By |May 31, 2013

More than a year after reports of illegal strip searches surfaced and protests about police tactics roiled Milwaukee, police will have a new policy governing the way officers interact with citizens and requiring for the first time documentation to help the department keep track of informal, consensual searches, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The community needs to be reassured after several high-profile incidents involving police interactions with community members that we have a proper policy and are requiring (officers) to do these things,” said Michael Tobin, executive director of the Fire and Police Commission.

One of those incidents involved allegations that officers sexually assaulted people and violated their civil rights while conducting rectal searches for drugs on the street. Four officers ultimately were charged. The new policy, which goes into effect Sunday, emphasizes that strip searches can be conducted only with the approval of a captain or higher authority, or a lieutenant if an officer of higher rank is not available. In 2010, no strip-search authorization reports were filed. In 2011, four were recorded. In 2012, the year the allegations of illegal strip searches became public, the number of reports skyrocketed to 29.

The legislation marks a major change for Republicans, who long hve embraced a law-and-order rallying cry. Now many GOP senators argue for rehabilitating more offenders rather than long-time incarceration.

An Arizona doctor argues that the government should have learned from previous federal anti-drug strategies that blanket prohibition doesn’t work. He calls for scrapping attempts to curtail opioids and replacing it with “harm reduction” policies.

Expensive medications for inmates can lead to substandard care and delays in treatment, and that may have lasting—even deadly—consequences for incarcerated individuals, writes a prison health care advocate.

Murder rates in the nation’s 30 largest cities are projected to fall by nearly 6 percent this year according to the latest data, undercutting claims that the nation is experiencing a “crime wave,” says the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

School safety commission proposes ending a federal guideline telling schools not to punish minorities at higher rates. The panel largely sidestepped issues relating to guns, although it favors arming some school personnel.